Samantha on the Prairie

Penny had a very busy day today, but she took a midday break to play with a friend and make puppets from recycled paper bags. In honor of Penny's latest Jump Rope for Heart! donor, grandma Sharon, Penny dedicates this cute puppet: This week, Penny and I will explore how the heart works and talk about different exercises to keep her healthy and strong. After a day like today, during which she really gave her all at gymnastics, I think she's starting to understand what the heart does. The more Penny helps to raise, the more the American Heart Association will be able to help children afflicted with heart conditions. If you haven't already, please consider a small donation through  Penny's fundraising page ! For each donation of $10 or more, Penny and I will create a piece of art and post it on this blog.

Penny received her two Jump Rope for Heart! donations yesterday.  Tonight, we're posting two paintings in appreciation. Penny wanted me to tell you she thinks it's cool that people are helping her reach her goal of $100 in donations. The more she helps to raise, the more the American Heart Association will be able to help children afflicted with heart conditions. If you haven't already, please consider a small donation through Penny's fundraising page . Using gold metallic paint on corrugated paper Using purple acrylic on yellow paper 3 hearts for grandma's donation 6 hearts for an anonymous donation

This year, Penny is participating in her school's Jump Rope for Heart! From now through February, she will learn about how the heart works, how to take care of her heart, ways to stay active, and will celebrate fitness and jumping rope. Please help Penny raise money for heart health by making a donation to the American Heart Association through her Jump Rope for Heart! fundraising site: http://jumphoops2015mwa.kintera.org For each donation over $10 she receives through her fundraising site, Penny and mommy (me) will create a special piece of art in honor of the donor to post it on this blog. Please consider a small gift to help Penny see that she can do something to help children with heart conditions. She promises to "jump a lot" this month and believes that staying active (i.e. running around, going to the playground, and doing gymnastics) is really important for kids and grownups. Just for a little encouragement, Penny has a message for you:

I received a complementary bottle of Dr Song Organic Rosehip Oil to try in exchange for a product review. Truly, I've used rosehip oil very little, while reviewing another product several months ago. Oils are mostly my husband's territory as he uses them during and after shaving, so I let him try this one out. I've come to the conclusion I really don't have a need for rosehip oil, but I'm not going to ding a product just because I don't see much personal value in it. What I noticed was that Dr Song oil doesn't smell bad (I've tried some stinky rosehip oils), it's definitely moisturizing, and my skin doesn't react badly, so no irritation, which is nice. If you're looking specifically for rosehip, of the few I've tried, Dr. Song would be my preference based on my skin after using it and the smell. This oil is really potent. Basically, a tiny amount goes a long way. I had a hard time not applying too much because even a drop f...

I've been trying a lot of vitamin C serums lately. This one was offered to me by Morea Naturals to try out for free in exchange for a product review. I immediately noticed it's a larger amount of serum than I get from comparably priced serums and it's in a totally opaque bottle, which I honestly don't often find. The serum itself is a bit thicker than the ones I've tried in dropper bottles and it feels like I don't need nearly as much to get the same benefits. Therefore, I get more product and I use less of it. That's enough to convince me to buy it when I run out. The opaque bottle that Morea Naturals uses makes me happy because skincare ingredients can break down when exposed to light and the pump style makes me more confident that I'm not getting bacteria in the bottle every time I use it, which is kind of how I feel when I use a dropper style product. It honestly can take a while to see any real benefits from using a vitamin C serum, so I...

I was given the opportunity to try a set of Leather Nova products to try recently. While we don't have a lot of leather products, what we do have is in pretty terrible shape, so I was pretty eager to try out something that might help clean and restore a few things in my house. My husband's had this big Ikea man-chair for 8 years and it's been through the ringer. We've moved several times, we have cats who scratch furniture, and we've never properly cleaned the leather. We also have a dining seat with leather chairs, and while the big issue there is the cat damage, they could use a good cleaning. Leather Nova sent three products. I tried all three this week so I could see what each product does. The packaging of each is very similar, so when you're shopping online, make sure you are buying the one you want, whether it's leather cleaner , conditioner & cleaner , or conditioner & restorer . I first used Leather Nova Leather Cleaner on the ...

iRobot provided a significant discount so I could purchase the Roomba 870 for review. The iRobot Roomba 870 is my 4th robot vacuum. The first two were also Roombas, the 530 and 581 , and the more recent robot was a Neato XV21 . Roomba 530 died a few days out of warranty, but iRobot awesomely sent me a 581, before they were even sold in the United States, as a replacement. The 581 has lasted more than 4 years with one replacement battery. Neato totally konked out after a year, but we aren't keen to replace him with another one. Roomba 870 & 581 Basically, I feel like at this point, I know my robot vacuums, so here's what I think of the Roomba 870: The 870 is much better than the 581 and the 530 before that. The beater bars are almost zero maintenance and the dust bin is way easier to empty. It's a sealed bin, so it picks up a lot more too. Roomba 870 dust bin What I'll call "Old Roomba" (581) got fine hairs and dirt particles but the bigger...